Rise of the Dragons
by eveline7
Summary: This story takes place after the end of season 8 and gives Dany what she truly deserves. It's a tough journey and Dany has to experience pain, regret and true love so she could be born again.
1. An anchor in the darkness

She opened her eyes and she suddenly realized she couldn't focus anything. The surrounding air was dense, heavy, and with each labored breath, she felt a twinge of pain that started from the chest and reached up to the back.

A dragon should never be afraid. That's the sentence she had been saying over and over in her head. But she didn't feel like a dragon at that moment: she had no idea where she was, with every breath she felt excruciating pain and nothing around her could take shape at her eyes. She was terrified.

She was motionless and, even if she wanted to scream and get up, she didn't try cause she could feel her body was unable. All of a sudden she felt a hand on her forehead. She immediately turned her head to the side and she realized even faster that this small movement had been a terrible mistake. The pain she felt was so excruciating that she couldn't breathe for a few seconds.

"Slowly, my child. Don't worry, I have no intention of hurting you. "

That voice was sweet, delicate and just gentle as the hand stroking her hair. Dany thought no one ever spoke to her the way this woman did.

"Now that the worst is behind you, you have to keep resting."

Dany didn't see anything, so the only thing she could do was keep listening to that reassuring voice. She started breathing again: short and fast breaths first, cause she was afraid that extreme pain would've returned. Then the breaths became slower, deeper, taking the rhythm of the hand which kept stroking her hair.

"You are alive, you are here with us, in our small house. We don't know each other, but this doesn't matter. You don't have to worry about anything. You just have to take time to heal and rest. "

Dany couldn't understand nor remember. She didn't know if she was in the middle of a dream or if she was dead. She didn't know who that woman was. But none of it mattered. At that moment that gentle and delicate voice was enough for her not to sink, it was the only thing to hold on to in order not to fall into the abyss.

"I'm here, I'm not leaving you. You're home."


	2. Eileen

She was advancing slowly as hypnotized: she was attracted to the Iron Throne just like the sailors with a siren song. While observing the room which was way too dark and colder than she had always imagined, dozens of images were flashing before her eyes: fire, dying people, houses on fire.None of this could be real, she kept saying in her mind. When Jon arrived and started talking to her, his tone was detached and desperate at the same time.

"Have you been down there? Have you seen?! Children! Little children burnt! "

No, she had no idea. Whatever had happened before that moment, it seemed to have been removed from her memories, hidden in a drawer so remote to be unrecoverable. Yet she had a knot in her stomachlike a fist, like a burden that was obviously too large to be completely hidden. She felt desperate, lost and she wasn't really choosing or weighing her words.

"You can. You can forgive all of them. Please, Dany. "

No, I can't. From this point forward we can only go on, she thought. She tried to improvise, even though her hands were shaking and she saw the same fear that was paralyzing her body and her thoughts reflected in Jon's eyes.

"Be with me," she pleaded, "build the new world with me. This is our reason, it has been from the beginning..."

Don't go, not yet. Not this time. She held Jon's hand tight on her face because it was the only way for her to be lucid and anchored to the floor.

She was lost in her thoughts and she couldn't understand anymore what Jon was saying. She only felt their lips touching in a desperate kiss and then, suddenly, a stabbing pain in her stomach.

In an instant, all her thoughts were driven away by that pain that prevented her from even breathing. She immediately looked into his eyes and she saw terror, despair, guilt. She wanted to ask him why, she wanted to ask him if all those confused memories were true. She wanted to tell him she never imagined of all the people in the world she would have been killed by the only one she trusted. Then she felt a blind rage in her throat and she wanted to hit him, avoid him, prevent him from taking even her last moments. It wasn't fair.

All of a sudden her vision clouded completely, her head became heavy and she felt cold, even colder. Her legs gave up and Jon's arm grasped her to prevent her from falling to the ground. She needed air, she was petrified. The last thing she heard was Jon whispering in her ear

"Be strong, I'll find you"

And then the darkness.

* * *

She opened her eyes, she had no idea where she was and the first thing she did was to uncover herself and put a hand on her chest. She lifted the bandages in the blink of an eye and it was there. The wound she had seen in her dream was between her breasts. It was huge, with a bright red color and almost as long as her hand. As she touched it, Dany began to realize it hadn't been a vision and in a flash, the tangle of her memories was unraveled, showing her a reality she wished had never existed: Jon's refusal, the death of Jorah and Missandei, Varys and Tyrion's betrayal. The sound of distant bells, a wave of blinding anger and then fire. Fire and destruction.

Everything became obviously clear and she couldn't help but cry: she didn't know where she was, why she was still alive, but an immense sense of guilt was prevailing. She couldn't explain to herself how that blind fury had led her to such extermination; she only felt the shame of being still alive after all the lives she had ended. The stress was just too much to her body: she started sobbing and leaning forward until the pounding pain between her breasts diverted her thoughts.

Jon beat her to death. He was the one who had put an end to that intricate game in which Dany had only known distrust, resentment and all kinds of betrayal. Maybe everything was planned from the beginning and although Dany kept telling herself that she didn't deserve to be alive for what she had done at King's Landing, she couldn't think what Jon had done was right. He had betrayed her, just like everyone else, or even worse. Because he had done it in the worst way possible, he had struck her the moment he made her believe he had chosen her.

Noises from the outside were getting closer and her first reaction was fear. But she quickly realized she had no strength to be afraid, she didn't care about anything. She kept crying until a short, round woman opened the door, came in and ran towards her. Without saying a word, she took Dany in her arms as if it was the most natural thing in the world and she started rocking her.

After what seemed like ages, the crying began to calm down and Dany's attention was captured by the delicate scent of that woman: she smelled of lavender, of cleanliness, of a house where everyone is happy inside. She loosened her embrace so she could see her face. She had thick gray hair gathered behind her head with a simple clip; a small round face, pink cheeks, thin lips. Dany couldn't see the color of her eyes because in smiling they became so thin that they hid behind her cheeks.

"Who are you?" Dany asked between sobs, "Where am I? Why am I alive? "

"My name is Eileen, dear, and we are in a small village near the free city of Mantarys. I know you have a thousand questions and I promise I'll help you find all the answers, but you have to lie down first and drink some water. "

She didn't know how it was possible, but Dany was sure she had already heard that voice before. She allowed herself to be led by the hands of that woman, which were small and delicate but strong at the same time. As soon as she laid down, she felt a certain sense of nausea reaching her throat. Eileen immediately placed another pillow under her head and, after making Dany drink, she began to take care of the wound.

"My husband and I are healers. We have traveled extensively throughout our lives, but we aren't young nor strong anymore, so we only take care of the people of our village now, as far as possible." Dany was completely attracted to that voice.

"Well, about a moon ago the sky darkened and the wind whispered through the trees as the storm drew nearer. A lot of houses were flooded in no time and numerous fallen trees blocked the road. Edd and I were returning home after spending the morning clearing the streets from the logs with our neighbors, when we found you lifeless on the edge of our door. We immediately brought you in and, looking at your wound and the amount of blood you had lost, we thought you were lucky to have a still-beating heart".

Eileen took Dany's hands and squeezed them tightly as if she could actually feel that what she was about to say would have been even harder to hear.

"Edd immediately started taking care of your wound, slowly pulling out the blade that had passed through your lung and part of your stomach. It was a long night I still remember we burnt out 24 candles", she said smiling. "While I was drying and fixing your hair, I saw your pale face and I almost felt that everything we were doing would have been useless. But Edd, no. Edd kept breathing slowly and telling me that you were strong. He was so confident that you would've recovered that when he asked for a thread to stitch up your wound at the first light of dawn, he made sure, despite his heavy eyes, to do it in the most delicate and invisible way".

Dany instinctively squeezed her hand and new tears were streaming down her face.

"Since that day we have continued to take care of your wound, to bring down the fever and to stay close to you in your moments of delirium. We fed you and ... "

"Why did you do all of this?" Dany interrupted in disbelief and melancholy. It hadn't been magic, she thought, no unknown god, no prophecy. She had been saved by two strangers' commitment, attention and love, and this made her feel even more guilty because she felt she didn't deserve it.

"Because that's what we do best and you don't have to worry about anything right now. As you can see," she left Dany's hand and made a gesture as to indicate the room, "our house is small and humble. But we are very happy to have you here and you can stay as long as you want. "

Dany started to sob again. Even if she desperately needed all that warm-heartedness, she felt she didn't deserve it. She knew that as soon as those people had found out her identity and what she had done at King's Landing everything would've disappeared.

"I shouldn't be here, it's not fair. I don't deserve all of this ... "

"Who determines what we deserve, Daenerys?" Eileen replied as she put an ointment on Dany's dry lips. "Don't make that face, you will admit your hair color isn't that common, neither your pet. "

"Drogon" Dany whispered as her face lit up for a brief moment.

"We believe your dragon was the one who brought you here and it has been visiting us every night for about a month. We still have no idea why he chose us. Anyway, don't worry, everyone believes you are dead and you'll have no trouble as long as you'll stay here."

"So do you know everything?"

"We are not very interested in stories about courts and thrones and you will forgive me if I'll shorten your name; formalities, as you can see, aren't my thing. But yes, we know what happened at King's Landing" at that point Eileen's face became serious and Dany felt anguish going up to her throat "but I will be here if you want to tell me your version of the story".

"If you know everything," Dany replied feeling a sudden wave of tiredness weighing down her eyes "Why? Why did you save me? Why did you continue to heal and protect me? "

Eileen smiled and closed the ointment jar. Then she took Dany's hands back in hers and squeezed them even more. "First of all because we are softening while aging" she smiled, "You weren't a queen for us, nor a monster. You were a human being who needed help and we couldn't let you die. 'Cause that's our job, that's who we are and above all, because time has taught us that each and every person is better than his worst action. "

Dany smiled, but it was a sad smile. Then she fell asleep.

* * *

When she awoke she had no idea how long it had been since her conversation with Eileen. For the first time, she looked at the room she was in. It was small and spartan, but a great square of sunshine entering through the window laid down the floor. She noticed a wardrobe, a small trunk and then she focused on the wall where a lot of multicolored fabrics were hung up along with a host of particular objects from all around the world. All of a sudden the door opened and her instinct was to close her eyes and pretend to be asleep: she wasn't ready to speak again. Even if the conversation with Eileen had reassured her, Dany felt a very complicated tangle of emotions. She had no idea where she would start from now that she had lost everything.

"I gave her something to sleep, she was upset and I was afraid that all those sobs could cause her pain in the wound" Eileen was talking. Meanwhile, her wound was uncovered and a gentle hand placed a cold cream on the painful area. "As we thought, she is in the dark about everything."

In the dark about what?Dany's mind began to wander when she felt the same hands making their way to her belly and making strange movements as if checking that things were all right.

"This is unbelievable" it was a male voice, the voice of the person who was visiting her. "I've never seen anything like that in my all life".

"Don't you think we should tell her, Edd? I know you are afraid of her reaction, but by now Daenerys begins to be increasingly present and this condition begins to be quite evident. Maybe this will help her to start over. "

Dany understood. She suddenly realized she wasn't the only one whose life was saved by those people's hands.


End file.
